


Father, Daughter, Partner, Child

by Cantatrice18



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Drabble Collection, Episode Related, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Memories, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 13:52:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3122594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantatrice18/pseuds/Cantatrice18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eight drabbles, one for each episode, exploring the complex workings of Malcolm and Vanessa's relationship from Malcolm's point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Partners

Even as they made their way through the underground dens of iniquity, he couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that he had yet to shoot her through the heart. Their partnership was abhorrent, like making a deal with the devil, and only his desperation allowed him to overcome his revulsion and work with her. The idea of trusting her was laughable; she would betray him as quickly as she betrayed Mina. But her gifts were unique; he needed her, for now. He looked forward to the day when he would be able to rid himself of her for good.


	2. Covering Her Nakedness

So harmless, like a child, with bare arms clutching at herself and knees drawn up to her chest. And yet she was the same woman, the same hellion, who had railed against him in a myriad of voices, accusing him of everything short of murder, then fled into the stormy night. Her hair was still damp from the rain, the shiny dark curls falling unchecked across her face. As he drew a blanket over her body, careful not to touch her, he saw dull red scratches on her exposed shoulder, marks that had not been there when they’d left the house that evening. He quickly stopped himself from imagining how they could have gotten there; what Vanessa did when she was out of his sight was her own business. He was just thankful that she had found her way home.


	3. Bait

He'd used live bait before, of course, in Africa. When the game hunters wanted to draw the large predators out of hiding they would trap a gazelle or bush deer, tethering it to the ground, then wait in the shadows for the predator to approach. Sometimes they shot the predator before it reached the captive animal; often they did not. The frightened squeals and cries of the helpless bait became a measure for him, a mark of how close by the predator was. Now, though, his bait was silent, her dark dress swirling around her thin figure. Her true purpose on this expedition was a secret to all except him, but he was absolutely certain that she would draw in the monstrous game they sought. Like a captive gazelle to a starving lion, she was absolutely irresistible.


	4. In Her Room

It came for her. That it sought her, lusted after her, he already knew from Mr. Lyle. It was hardly surprising: after all she'd done, the havoc she'd wreaked within his own family, it was no wonder the Prince of Darkness would choose her for a mate. She was beyond absolution; her only redeeming quality was her devotion to his Mina, to finding and protecting his daughter from harm. He sometimes wondered whether it was Vanessa's attachment to Mina that had led to Mina's abduction in the first place. What could the Devil want with such a pure, innocent creature, except to use as a lure for a much greater prize. If that was indeed the case, then no power on earth could prevent him from putting a bullet through Vanessa's heart. Whether to save his Mina or avenge her suffering, Vanessa would die.


	5. Garden

The stories rambled on, one daring tale of adventure after another, until late in the afternoon. The summer heat, combined with the buzz of crickets and the scent of the grass, made them all drowsy. One by one the children drifted off to sleep. Mina was the first to go, followed by Peter, until only little Vanessa was left. When she finally nodded off with her head cradled in his lap, he let his voice drop to a whisper, filling her dreams with visions of the African plains and exotic tribes speaking unknown tongues. He stroked her hair as she slept, warmth filling his heart. Only when it grew dark did he reluctantly shake the children awake, and as he watched them run back to the Murray house he felt contentment creeping over him until, it seemed, he could hardly remember a time when he had felt happier.


	6. Evening Dress

The shade was wrong, of course. A woman of her pale complexion needed a color, perhaps a green or a blue. So much somber black made her look sallow and yet, as she spun slowly in place, he could not help but admire the sheer sleeves and the way the bodice clung to her narrow waist. The plunging neckline did not escape his notice either, all the more startling when compared with her normal high collars. She’d always been a beauty, even as a child, but these days he rarely thought of her as anything but his accomplice, a tool with which to achieve his goal. Nevertheless, it was good to see her smile again, not the cynical smile of a world-weary woman, but the sweet and hesitant smile of a girl.


	7. Asylum

He’d heard rumors, at the time, of her illness and commitment. Back then he’d found nothing but pleasure in the idea of her locked away, unable to do any more harm. Now, seeing her torn to pieces from the inside, he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d been treated by people who knew nothing of her or her curse. He had never visited an asylum, never having had reason to do so, but tales had reached his ears of experimental procedures being performed upon madmen, strange drugs and surgeries used on the insane. He’d assumed such tales came from disreputable sham clinics, never the sort that a woman like Mrs. Ives would commit her daughter to. Yet the tortured screams that emanated from Vanessa’s room at all hours, the terror in her eyes at the mere mention of doctors or alienists, told a different story, one too horrible to for him to contemplate.


	8. Father/Daughter

They did not fool one another. Even after his bold declaration in the Grand Guignol, she still treated him with the slight distance that came from long hostility. They were at a truce; an uncertain peace had fallen between their two embattled sides. He didn’t know what had come over him in that moment, to declare her his daughter. She was not his true child, of that he was certain. Perhaps it was Mr. Chandler’s influence that made him choose to save her, to accept her as a woman and not a monster. Perhaps he was simply trying to keep the one person left from his past life bound to him, unable to desert him. Regardless, the decision had been made, and he would stand by it. Vanessa Ives was his.


End file.
